Bishops Try To Meld Faith with African Life

VATICAN CITY Roman Catholic bishops from Africa, meeting in Romeat a special congress, are seeking to match the demands of theirfaith with the social, political and economic needs of a hungry andoften violent continent.

For about 300 bishops from the 53 nations of Africa attendingthe monthlong synod, "inculturation" - the melding of RomanCatholicism with African traditions - is as an overriding concern."It is the marriage of faith and life," said the group's interimdocument.

The secular context for a church transported to Africa in thelast century by European missionaries emerges with painful clarity asthe bishops recite a litany of continental need.

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